1% tax supporters get organized

Supporters of the 1% prepared food tax are ready to push a campaign now that a special election has been set for Nov. 8.

The tax was originally approved by the board in February as a solution to an annual deficit with Fort Smith Convention Center operations predicted to occur when $1.8 million in annual state turnback money dried up. The state turnback program—which supported expansion or construction of tourism facilities — ended for Fort Smith in June 2010. The center has since operated on a reserve fund.

Opposition to the tax has been well documented.

The Citizens for Responsible Taxation began as a group of local restaurant owners who opposed the tax. Eddie York, owner of Art’s BBQ and Tommy’s Steakhouse, was the de facto leader of the CRT. The group grew to include non-restaurant owners or managers who helped organize a petition drive that collected 9,803 signatures and won a legal challenge to the city’s rejection of their original petition effort. It remains unclear how many of those signatures were valid, but only 2,822 signatures were required to force an election on the issue.

“We are definitely going to do that. We are going to get people out to vote,” York said Thursday afternoon. “We don’t have a plan, but a group of us will get back together and see to what extent we need to do something to oppose this.”

However, York said, the goal has always been to force an election. He is “very confident” the 1% prepared food tax will get voted down without too much effort to encourage people to go vote against it.

“Basically we got done what we wanted done. Now that we all get a chance to vote on it, I don’t think it has a chance of passing,” York said.

A research report from a University of Arkansas graduate student suggests an election edge for those against the tax.

Citizens supporting the 1% prepared food tax began organizing during the past two weeks, said Jeff Smith, who works for Ameriprise Financial Services in Fort Smith.

Smith said a group of about 80 have organized, with about 20 of those part of a “core group” leading the charge. He said they have been surprised by the response.

“We’re amazed at the number of people who have come out in support of the tax in just a few days. The issue I think was, a lot of the people were in the background until the decision was made to have a vote. And now that it is going to a vote, they are going to step up and support the convention center,” Smith said Thursday after the Fort Smith Board of Directors voted to send the issue to a Nov. 8 election. “That has given us hope in this thing. They (volunteers) come up to us and say, ‘Hey, this is going to a vote now, and we want to help.’”

Smith said he expects the number of volunteers and supporters will grow well beyond 80. He also said the group is working raising campaign funds, but do not yet have an estimate on how much money will be required to get the message out.

“The facts behind this issue are huge in terms of support for it (convention center). So how do we condense this? We have to find out where the misinformation is, and how to correct that,” Smith said.

Also, Smith said public officials are not part of the core group.

“We don’t want them to be a part of the core,” Smith said. “We feel that it’s stronger for everyone to understand that we are just a group of citizens who support this.”

Fort Smith City Administrator Ray Gosack said the private group may use a legal organization registered with the Arkansas Secretary of State. The entity, “Citizens for Continued Progress,” has allowed private dollars to support previous tax referendums in Fort Smith, including the street sales tax and the countywide sales tax.

Gosack said the city staff and resources are not allowed to advocate for or against a tax. However, if the board of directors endorses passage of the 1% prepared food tax, the endorsement gives the staff “a green light” to provide documents and other information to a group that campaigns for the tax.

“But we’ve supplied information to people who are against the tax, so that would be no different,” Gosack said.